Keeping topsails



UNTTED STATES PATENT oEEIcE.

JAS. E. COLE, OF NHV( YORK, N. Y.

REEFING TOPSAILS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 17,365, dated May 26, 1857.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, JAMES E. COLE, of New York, county of New York, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Reducing and 'Furling the Sails of Ships from the Deck; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and eXact description of the same, reference being made to the anneXed drawing, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure I is a front elevation of a` top sail fitted with my improvements. Fig. II is a side view thereof, and similar letters indiA cate similar parts throughout.

` transmitted to the ends of the roller spar.

As it is oftener desirable that the topsails of a ship shall be worked from the deck than any of the others, I will describe my invention particularly with reference to those sails, and although my said improved method is capable of being applied and used to advantage upon masts of ordinary construction and rig, yet as I prefer a different and improved construction for those, I shall also describe my invention in its connection with my improved masts. In these the lower mast is made to terminate at the usual place of the round-top, and instead of the heel of the top mast resting there, it is continued downward for some distance, as seen at- (cz) and rests upon a step (7)) affixed to the front of the lower mast for that purpose, and eX- tending down to the deck. In merchant vessels the round-top is now considered as but of little if any real use; I therefore dispense with it, supporting the top masts by the back Stays, as in fact they usually are really so supported, and in the place of the round top I afliX the cap.7 The length of top-mast upon which the top-sail.yard can traverse is thus So much greater than in the ordinary rig that the yard can be sent down lower, thereby reducing the weight aloft when the sail is taken in. The topmast has upon the front side a rail-bar extending from the halyard-sheaye quite down to the cap, and upon this is a slide made to play vertically, to which the topsail-yard is aflixed by Such joint as will permit it to be braced sharp, as well as to be cock-billed. As there is now no parrel to traverse upon this mast, a` band may be put around it midway of its height. to which an extra back-stay may be atliXed, if desired, and to that band the lifts of the lower yard may also be attached. The cap on the head of the lower mast is made to open for 1ard, in order that the top-mast may be sent down, since it could not, as thus constructed be sent down through a cap of ordinary form.

The lower yard is generally as of usual construction and size. Along the upper side, and a little above it, is a strong spar (c) hung in journals upon suitable bearings (cl) rising from the yard arms. This spar is cylindrical and operates as a roller, the foot of the sail being secured to a jackstay upon it, as the head is upon the top sail-yard. In order that the sail may be unbroken this roller must be operated from its ends, and for this purpose a supplementary shaft (e) is placed immediately under the lower yard, its ends being journals secured in proper bearings hanging also from the yard arms as shown. This shaft has upon each end a pulley (f) opposite to corresponding ones (f) on the roller above the yard, and belts of chain transmit the rotation of the shaft, the pulleys having spurs to take into the links and thereby render the motion certain. The shaft has also at its center a. similar pulley or chain-wheel, on which is an endless-fall-chain (g) extending down to near the deck and passing under a` like spur chain-wheel (7i) on the shaft of a windlass atixedto the deck, and which has a ratchet and pawl to secure it in any desired position, as usual.

The top-sailyard is of ordinary construction, except that no provision is necessary for reef tackles. This .sail requires no reefpoints, buntlines, clew-lines, brails, nor sheets, and the operation will be as follows:

Then sail is to be reduced it is accomplished by turning the windlass on deck in the direction shown by the arrow, Fig. II, at the same time that the tOp-SaiLyard is lowered to the distance required. The lower part of the sail will thus be rolled upon the Sparte) being held tight-ly there by securing the windlass, and as it is the widest part of the sail which has been so taken up on the roller, the whole will lie smooth, and the remainder of the sail will be tightly stretched. If it be desired to take in the sail entirely, the rolling is continued, while the top sail yard is still further lowered until it hangs just behind the roller spar, for the rail-bar on the top-mast is brought down far enough to admit of this. The rolling up of the sail may perhaps be more smoothly accomplished if the cloths are put in parallel with the leach of the sail, or otherwise diagonally, so that thedoubled parts do not follow in the same place on the roller spar. The adaptation of this improvement in various ways to the other square sails will be readily suggested to those familiar with nautical matters. For a top-gallant-sail it may be elfected by placing both the shaft (e) and the roller spar (o) above the topsail-yard, so that the stay which extends out from the top-mast will pass between course, or lower sail, the roller spar would necessarily be applied at the head of the sail, and this may be by putting both the roller and its shaft in front of the yard.

I claim- The supplementary shaft in combination with the roller spar, for the purposes and in the manner substantially as set forth.

JAS. E. COLE.

Titiiesses JOSEPH P. PIRSSON, S. H. MAYNARD. 

